Paris, 14 June 2005 − Mrs Yuliya Tymoshenko, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, said in Paris on Tuesday that her government working all out to “achieve European standards in all areas” with a view to full integration in the European Union, this being Ukraine’s main priority. The country would be “making every effort to make its European dream come true”.
 
Addressing the WEU Assembly, Mrs Tymoshenko acknowledged that Ukraine faced “a huge uphill task” in its domestic policy, but she was determined to step up efforts and speed up the process to ensure that her country complied fully with the “democratic values” which the EU represented. The Prime Minister referred in particular to problems posed by the “underground economy”, corruption and criminal gangs which could not be solved in a few months. “We need international assistance to scale down these phenomena” she said, pointing out that experts estimated that the underground economy accounted for 55% of Ukraine’s GDP.
 
“In May 2005 the State earned twice as much revenue compared with the same month in 2004 without raising taxes. This means that part of the underground economy has now become legal again” she said, stressing that the new President, Viktor Yushchenko, inspired great confidence. Organised criminal gangs were in control of a large section of the mass media and were involved in money laundering running into billions. It would take some time to win the fight against corruption, which had to be “brought down to a level compatible with democracy”. The government had also taken steps to reform and democratise the police force which, according to Mrs Tymoshenko, had been the main pillar of the former regime. “At the moment the police and democracy in Ukraine are virtually incompatible” she said, adding that the government’s task was quite a difficult one.
 
Mrs Tymoshenko also referred to the efforts being made to restore unity in Ukraine following the damage caused by an electoral campaign that had played on the alleged rift between the “pro-European” western part of Ukraine and the “pro-Russian” eastern part of the country. She considered that Ukraine’s wish to establish friendly relations with Russia within a balanced partnership had helped to alleviate tensions even though the Russian elite had still not fully come to terms with the victory of the “orange revolution”.
 
On the subject of Transdniestria, Mrs Tymoshenko said her country was working with Moldova to “create a proper border” behind which Transdniestria would be able to consider itself to be an integral part of Moldova instead of an isolated region under the control of organised crime.
 
The Prime Minister added that her country was ready to speed up implementation of the EU-Ukraine action plan so that Ukraine could “achieve European standards”. This action plan was not an alternative to the process of integration. It created the appropriate framework for defining clear prospects for accession to the EU, which Mrs Tymoshenko described as “my country’s European dream”.